Tim Murphy Checks In From Coaches Tour 2010

Tim Murphy, the Thomas Stephenson Head Coach for Harvard
Football, is embarking on a week-long journey overseas to speak
with men and women of the United States military as part of the
Coaches Tour 2010. The purpose of the trip is to essentially
provide service men and women with a break from the rigors of
active duty while providing a temporary outlet of something
sports-related.

Murphy is joined on the trip by Oregon head coach Chip Kelly,
Illinois coach Ron Zook, Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville and
West Point head coach Rich Ellerson. Murphy and Kelly were recently
guest lecturers at the USC Coach of the Year Clinic at The Galen
Center Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif.

Murphy is contributing periodic updates about the trip and the
first installment is below.

Greetings from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan.

On Saturday, I flew from Boston to Atlanta and then onto
McConnell where I met up with the rest of our traveling party.

McConnell AFB is one of the nation’s oldest bases, having
served the United States since WWII.

After arriving at Wichita’s National Airport, I was picked
up by our tour pilot, Captain Garrett Bilbo, as well as our
navigator, Captain Kyle Dinwiddie. We will be flying to seven
countries in a nine-day span on a KC-35, which is a combination air
refueling Supertanker and transport aircraft.

The KC-135 is a huge place that is surprisingly fast and has
been serving the air force for the past 50 years. While the plane
is spectacular, the one thing it is not is comfortable. There is no
temperature control and temperature inside the plane ranges 10 to
90 degrees at different times.

I asked Capt. Bilbo about any tough situations he had been
through in flying the KC-135 and he said that the plane had been
struck by lightning once. The situation blinded the crew for 60
seconds and knocked out the avionics while blowing a chunk off the
tail of the plane. Needless to say, since he handled that scenario
without too much trouble, I’m glad to be flying with this
crew.

Brigadier General Rick Devereaux will be accompanying us on this
trip and one thing I have been immediately struck with and
impressed by is his tremendous professionalism, enthusiasm and
pride that he takes in his Air Force personnel. Tomorrow, our
wheels go up at 01100 for the 10-hour flight to Germany to visit
wounded soldiers at a military hospital there. More to come after I
warm up or cool down – depending on the plane’s
temperature.